Visions of the Future in Germany and America

by Finzsch, Norbert; Wellenreuther, Hermann

• ISBN13: 9781859735213
• ISBN10: 1859735215
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2001-10-01
• Publisher: Berg Pub Ltd

Summary

Predictions about the world have the power to grip whole societies, and shape the actions of many groups whether working in politics, ecology or religion. At the end of epochs and eras humans tend to reflect on the shape of things to come. Most recently, fears about the 'millennium bug' had thousands rushing to stock up on candles and food in the weeks before New Year's Eve.Concerns about the future have been expressed differently throughout history. This book explores the historical context surrounding various debates, decisions and beliefs about the future in recent centuries. Religious, political, literary and ecological visions of the future in America and Germany are addressed comparatively. In particular, scholars from the United States and Germany explore the meaning of eschatological and utopian thoughts pursued during the last three centuries and tackle subjects ranging from science fiction to religious radicalism, utopian social experiments, and visions of race relations. This book delves into the hopes and fears for the future that have shaped the past and will be of interest to comparative historians as well as to historians of Europe and the United States intrigued by the subject of utopias.

Table of Contents

Introduction	1	(24)
Norbert Finzsch
Part 1 Transatlantic Millenarianism from the Seventeenth to the Twentieth Century
The Migration of the Pious: Methodists, Pietists, and the Antinomian Character of North American Religious History	25	(24)
A. Gregg Roeber
American Dreams and European Responses from the 1840s to the 1920s	49	(20)
William R. Hutchison
Present Tenses of the Everlasting Life: Pentecostal Visions of the Future	69	(40)
Grant Wacker
Comment
David L. Ellis	89	(10)
Aaron Fogleman	99	(10)
Part 2 Visions of the New World Order
The US Quest for a Global Pax American: Myths and Realities	109	(34)
Paul T. Burlin
Beyond Weltpolitik, Self-Containment and Civilian Power: United Germany's Normalizing Ambitions	143	(108)
Gunther Hellmann
Comment
Beverly Crawford	225	(6)
Ralph Dietl	231	(20)
Part 3 Utopian Communities in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries
Social Utopias in Modern America	251	(24)
James B. Gilbert
Broken Utopias: Visions of the Social Order in Modern Germany	275	(46)
Paul Nolte
Comment
Martin H. Geyer	295	(8)
Ursula Lehmkuhl	303	(18)
Part 4 The Future Society Envisioned
Beyond the Nation? A Grand Category Revisited	321	(28)
Dietmar Schirmer
Future Blues: Race Relations in the United States	349	(26)
Leon F. Litwack
Volksgemeinschaft in the Third Reich: Concession, Conflict, Consensus	375	(28)
Maria Mitchell
``We may be losing this generation'': Talking about Youth and the Nation's Future during the New Deal Era	403	(68)
Olaf Stieglitz
Comment
A. D. Moses	431	(14)
Heiko Stoff	445	(26)
Part 5 Science Fiction, Social Construction, and New Realities
Different Drafts of a ``Future Horizon'': Weird Science Versus Nick der Raumfahrer	471	(16)
Ole Frahm
Ecology and Apocalypse	487	(14)
Susan Strasser
``Dad, are you there? Come back'': Gender and the Narrative of Science Fiction	501	(40)
Susan Winnett
Comment
Luigi Cajani	533	(8)
Select Bibliography	541	(28)
Norbert Finzsch
Index of Names	569	(10)
Index of Places	579